Five years ago, analytical forecasts may have brimmed with enthusiasm for Zimbabwe’s Small and Medium-sized (SME) economy. It can be reasonably argued that the small business sector was on the cusp of a modest upswing, as evidenced by the slow but steady progression from informal to formal business activities.

Despite the government’s failure to see the economic logic of a robust SME sector, the growth in the development of micro and small enterprises was apparent from the extent to which SMEs had emerged, consolidated and grown on the back of the informal sector.

Although there’s no composite body of knowledge available, there’s anecdotal evidence that the rate of business formation and graduation from informal to formal sector activities attests to an SME economy that was coming of age.

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